Taane&nbspMullenger

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Full Name

Taane Mullenger

Background

Background The Dominion Post , 13th September 2008A teenage tagger who stabbed a man trying to stop him vandalising an inner-city Wellington restaurant has pleaded guilty.

Taane Mullenger, 19, unemployed, of Miramar, has taken eight months to plead guilty to injuring Matthew O'Brien with intent to injure, theft, possession of a knife, and wilful damage.Mullenger was tagging a wall in Blair St outside Zing cafe on February 1 when Mr O'Brien, in town from Auckland for the rugby sevens, saw him.Mr O'Brien called out to him and Mullenger challenged him to a fight. Mr O'Brien lifted his arm to defend himself when Mullenger swung at him, then realised he had been stabbed.

He ran off worried that he could be stabbed again.Mullenger then returned to finish his tag before hiding the knife. He told police he had been going for the victim's stomach to "get him good".Police recovered the knife from outside a bar. Mullenger said he took the spraycan from a digger in a supermarket car park and he had been carrying the knife for protection.

His lawyer, Gretel Fairbrother, said alcohol was a problem for Mullenger and it was a factor in his offending on the night.Yesterday Wellington District Court judge Stephen Harrop remanded Mullenger on bail till October 24 for sentencing.The Wellington stabbing happened the weekend after a teenage tagger was killed in South Auckland. Father of three Bruce Emery, 50, has been charged with murder. He is awaiting trial"